Blog Post

Candidates and Healthcare — A Guide to the Maryland Primary

Jane Jewell • Jul 05, 2022


Abortion and covid are the main and most controversial topics in health care, dominating today’s news and people’s minds. 

 

Do candidates agree with the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade? Or do they support reproductive freedom and the right of individual women to choose? And, where do candidates stand on the issues of masks, mandates, and vaccines.

 

Other important health-related issues include the increasing cost of prescription drugs and health insurance premiums. Arguments also swirl around whether to expand or curb Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). The increasing number of hospital and clinic closings, especially in rural areas, is another problem.

 

Below are notes and quotes from the candidates’ websites and other public-record sources. Some candidates, mostly Democrats, have detailed plans for handling today’s health problems. Other candidates’ websites have general statements about healthcare being important, but no specifics on what the candidate supports or opposes.


For those interested in a candidate’s stand on a health issue that is not noted below, we suggest searching on the candidate’s name along with the topic and also checking sites like VOTE411.org or Ballotpedia.org/Maryland that track candidates’ positions. Many who have not yet made public statements on various controversial issues like the pandemic or Roe v. Wade may yet do so before the Maryland primary election. Be sure to vote!

 

The primary election is scheduled for Tuesday, July 19. Only residents who have registered their political party preference are eligible to vote, and they may only vote for their party’s candidates. Thus, Democrats may only vote for Democratic candidates and Republicans only for Republican candidates.

 

Important primary voting dates in Maryland:

  • July 7-14: Early in-person voting
  • July 12: Deadline to request a mail-in ballot for the primary election
  • July 19: Mail-in ballots must be postmarked no later than this date
  • July 19: Primary election

 

 

Governor/Lieutenant Governor

 

Dan Cox + Gordana Schifanelli — Republican

www.dancoxforgovernor.com

 

“On day one of my administration as your next governor, I will end the vaccine and health mandates.”

 

“Life, from conception to death, must be protected with utmost sincerity. I am unashamedly 100% pro-life.”

 

 

Robin Ficker + LeRoy F. Yegge, Jr. — Republican

www.cutmdsalestax2cents.com

Ficker’s website lists his record and position on many areas, but hardly anything on health. Some of his stance can be inferred from statements on education on his website including his call to re-open schools for in-person learning as early as July 2020 and that, “They will prioritize parental input into what the schools are teaching, whether schools are safe, and whether any mandates are ever needed.”

 

“I want to make Maryland the sports state. Kids in the school systems and most adults are too sedentary, devoting too much time to screen activity. We need to get them out and about and involved in wholesome activity and exercise.” (VOTE411.org)

 

 

Kelly Schulz + Jeff Woolford — Republican

http://www.kellyschulzforgovernor.com

“... it is WELL past time we move away from mask mandates and vaccine mandates. Individuals should be making their own choices.”

 

“I won’t let politicians arbitrarily shut down schools.”

 

“We are blessed to live in a state that has some of the best hospitals and health care providers not only in the country, but in the world. Innovative approaches have been taken to stabilize health care costs and premiums. We must continue to do this while also allowing for a system in which we can have more competition so that consumers have more choices.”

 

 

Joe Werner + Minh Thanh Luong — Republican

http://www.wernerformaryland.com

Werner’s website states that he has “tailor-fit plans” on several issues including healthcare; however, there are no details on the plans. His stance is indicated by the phrase “Pro Life Pro Liberty” on his list of important issues.

 


Rushern Baker III + Nancy Navarro — Democrat

http://www.rushernbaker.com

Rushern Baker III suspended his race for governor on June 10.

 

 

Jon Baron + Natalie Williams — Democrat

http://www.jonbaron.com

Baron says that he wants to bring an evidence-based approach to all issues including education, the economy, and healthcare. Specifically, he wants to lower the cost of prescription drugs by empowering Maryland to negotiate lower statewide costs for pharmaceutical drugs and to investigate which drugs benefit patients. 

 

Programs he supports:

  • Enshrine the protections of Roe v. Wade in the Maryland constitution
  • Public option health insurance with low premiums, similar to programs in New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington, similar to single-payer or Medicare-for-all concepts
  • Nurse-led program for chronically ill home-bound senior citizens
  • Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) for first-time mothers
  • A program that pairs Black barbershops with pharmacists to screen for and treat high blood pressure

 

 

Peter Franchot + Monique Anderson-Walker — Democrat

http://www.franchot.com

 “We have suffered greatly as a state and as a nation because our leaders have confused wishful thinking and good intentions with good management and strategic leadership. As a result, millions of Marylanders experienced confusion, frustration, and anger over poor execution of our covid-19 response. Far too often, the pandemic created needs that government did not rise to meet.”

 

Healthcare platform includes:

  • Protecting and expanding access to abortion care
  • Lowering healthcare costs and expanding affordable primary and preventative care

 

 

Douglas F. Gansler + Candace Hollingsworth — Democrat

www.ganslerformaryland.com

Regarding healthcare in general, Ganzler states: “In the midst of both a public health crisis and an economic crisis, our state is failing to provide the access, quality, and continuity of care that patients desperately need.”

 

Gansler has a focus on mental health and on adults with physical disabilities and chronic diseases, especially veterans. He proposes plans to improve access for the disabled in public transportation and employment. 

 

“We are nowhere close to satisfying demand for psychiatrists, therapists, and clinical social workers, which means people who call for help are often forced to wait weeks, even months, to get through the door. When we can get patients in for sessions, we don’t have nearly enough licensed prescribers to provide people with life-saving medicine. It’s clear Marylanders need mental health care now more than ever.”

 

He is also in favor of legalizing cannabis and expunging convictions.

 

 

Ralph W. Jaffe + Mark Greben — Democrat

http://www.fedupwithcrookedpolitics.com

Jaffe wants investigation and action on:

  • Veteran Adminstration scandals
  • Nursing home exploitation of the elderly

 

 

Ashwani Jain + LaTrece Hawkins Lytes — Democrat

www.jainforgovernor.com

Jain pledges to:

  • Add protection for abortion care, contraception, and gender treatment to Maryland constitution
  • Provide mental health personnel in schools
  • Strengthen disability rights and create caretaker programs
  • Legalize marijuana and expunge records
  • Decriminalize scheduled drugs and fund rehab clinics

 

 

John King + Michelle Daugherty Siri — Democrat

http://www.johnkingforGovernor.com

King is endorsed by the Pro-Choice Maryland Action organization.

 

On protecting and expanding the right to abortion care, King’s website states: “Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, it is no longer enough for Democrats to only be pro-choice. John and Michelle, his running mate and former board president of Planned Parenthood of Maryland, are committed to aggressively protecting and expanding the right to abortion care in Maryland.”

 

“Almost 350,000 [Marylanders] are uninsured. The disparities in Maryland’s healthcare system run deep. Black and Latino Marylanders are uninsured at a disproportionate rate.”

 

On his website, King outlines the following priorities:

  • Treat healthcare as a human right and remove barriers to healthcare for all Marylanders, regardless of immigration status
  • Remove barriers to primary care providers and specialty providers while working to ensure that all Marylanders face no barriers to emergency care, especially in rural Maryland
  • Incentivize providers to locate in underserved communities, prioritizing specialists
  • Create a permanent task force to analyze racial disparities in Maryland’s health care system, and make targeted investments to eliminate those disparities
  • Take a holistic approach to healthcare by tackling the underlying causes of many health disparities, such as poverty, environmental injustice, and access to fresh foods

 

 

Wes Moore + Aruna Miller — Democrat

wesmoore.com

“Wes will protect funding for our community health centers that offer critical health services like cancer screenings and birth control. Wes supports the right to choose, and as governor, he will fight to protect it."

 

The website states that the Moore-Miller administration will:

  • Ensure every Marylander has access to quality, affordable health care coverage and that the ability to pay is not the deciding factor in obtaining needed care
  • Protect reproductive freedoms and advance access to reproductive healthcare by enshrining the right to abortion into Maryland’s constitution, combating any efforts to restrict care and expanding training for healthcare providers so more Marylanders can obtain care
  • Lower prescription drug prices by empowering the Prescription Drug Affordability Board to review costs and set limits for prescription drugs, explore bulk buying pools, and leverage the state’s purchasing power to drive down costs
  • Advance health equity by ensuring universal access to coverage, combating maternal mortality by expanding successful home visiting programs, addressing disparities in rural health care by expanding telehealth and remote patient monitoring
  • Improve care for individuals with disabilities, and support seniors’ ability to access home health care services to age in place
  • Destigmatize mental illness and support mental, emotional, and behavioral health for all by increasing the number of community-based care centers
  • Better address the behavioral health needs of Maryland’s youth by expanding community schools, increasing the number of behavioral health workers in schools
  • Address workforce shortages in the health care field by driving more students into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs and leveraging tuition assistance and loan forgiveness to incentivize students and new graduates to work in high-demand areas
  • Address the public health impacts of climate change by addressing the worsening effects of extreme heat and improving Maryland’s air quality


 

Tom Perez + Shannon Sneed — Democrat

www.tomperez.com

“Tom will also ensure that every woman in Maryland has access to world class reproductive care.


  • The Perez-Sneed administration will also tackle the opioid and overdose crises across our state which are the leading cause of maternal mortality
  • Tom has a proven track record of fighting for women’s reproductive rights, including as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice where he reinforced federal laws that protect women’s access to reproductive care without harassment or intimidation
  • Maryland is one of the most pro-choice states in the nation, but unfortunately most counties do not have a clinic that provides abortion services. Tom is committed to ensuring that every woman in Maryland has access to reproductive healthcare by integrating reproductive health services into our primary care system
  • Tom has a track record of fighting for Black women and children as director of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services where he prosecuted a maternity ward that segregated its patients by race. As governor, Tom will provide targeted support for fertility, prenatal, and postpartum resources to Black women
  • Perez states he will also tackle the ongoing mental health crisis”

 

 

Jerome M. Segal + Justinian M. Dispenza — Democrat

segalforgovernor.org

Segal’s website has no specific mention of healthcare, covid, or abortion and reproductive rights.

 

 

Congress 1st District

 

Andrew P. Harris — Republican — incumbent

http://www.andyharris.com

Concerning abortion, Harris has been quoted in a Baltimore Sun article: “I’m on record,” Harris said. “I would support a heartbeat bill. I think we should protect infant lives after the heartbeat is detected.” That would be at about 6 weeks, before many even know they are pregnant.

 

As of July 1, the Harris website has lots of links to news articles and tips for dealing with covid but no details on his position on issues such as masks, vaccines, or mandates. Radio and TV ads from 2018 and 2020 are included but no new information for 2022.

 

The site also has a banner proclaiming “The Trump Team.” 

 

 

R. David Harden — Democrat

http://www.hardenforcongress.com

“Healthcare: Every American deserves access to high-quality, affordable medical care. We can improve our healthcare system while lowering costs, ensuring broader coverage, and achieving better outcomes. I support measures that would strengthen the ACA’s framework and provide a public option that will be made affordable to every citizen. Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP protect our seniors, children, and most vulnerable citizens; I will fight to make sure these programs are never eliminated or privatized. Beyond expanding coverage, we must also seek to address the exploding costs of healthcare. We need a comprehensive policy agenda that targets anti-competitive behavior, price-gouging, and bureaucratic waste in the private sector, while also investing in evidence-based public health initiatives.”

 

Hardin states that he is “fully committed to protecting Social Security and Medicare and ensuring their solvency and viability.”

 

On covid, Hardin supports vaccines and taking all needed precautions for those in high-risk groups.

 

 

Heather R. Mizeur — Democrat

www.heathermizeur.com

Concerning healthcare, Mizeur supports expanding access, lowering costs, and improving coverage. She has considerable experience in writing and sponsoring healthcare policy in the Maryland General Assembly, including one of the first bills that allowed young people to stay on their parents’ family policies until age 26.

 

“I will seek to expand who qualifies for coverage, improve the benefits packages, and will work to bring down out-of-pocket costs through better subsidies and co-payment rules. I also support allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies to reduce Rx prices. And I will prioritize our rural health care needs by focusing on ways to attract more and better health care providers to our region and promote policies that will keep rural hospitals and clinics open and thriving, ensuring First District residents don’t lose their access to care.”

 

Mizeur has an impressive list of endorsements including from Maryland’s U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and from Wayne Gilchrest, former Republican, who was the First District representative in Congress for many years. 

 

 

Jane Jewell is a writer, editor, photographer, and teacher. She has worked in news, publishing, and as the director of a national writer's group. She lives in Chestertown with her husband Peter Heck, a ginger cat named Riley, and a lot of books.

 

General Assembly Wrapup 2024

By Peter Heck • 14 May, 2024
The 2024 Maryland General Assembly adjourned April 8, having enacted several hundred bills during its 3-month session. This article will look at some of the more significant of those new laws. Always at the top of the list in any legislative session is the state’s budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins June 1. Not surprisingly, this is a complex piece of legislation – the highlights summary provided by the state government runs to more than 200 pages. It allocates some $63 billion to a variety of state, county, and local agencies. Governor Wes Moore said he followed three guidelines in constructing the budget. First was “a fiscally responsible approach” to increasing investments and making necessary cuts. Second, he said, the administration shifted money from programs that are underperforming to those with “a proven record of success.” And third, he focused on making public investments that will help the state’s economy grow over the long term. Among the highlights are $9.1 billion for the state’s public schools, a 5.3% increase over 2024. Higher education and transportation also receive increases of about 5% over last year’s budget. The budget also includes increases in tobacco taxes and vehicle registration fees, to help avoid a projected deficit in the Blueprint for Maryland’s future, the state’s education reform bill. Personal income taxes will not be increased. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after a collision from a cargo ship was a major issue in the final days of the General Assembly session. The collapse threatened a long closure of the Baltimore harbor, a major element of the state’s economy. On the final night of the session, legislators approved a bill to provide grant assistance to workers and businesses affected by the collapse. The bill also provides scholarships for dependents of the six workers killed by the collapse, as well as construction workers killed in other state projects. One of Moore’s priorities was to increase the availability and affordability of housing in the state. To that end, he supported three bills, all of which passed. One creates a state Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs, which is charged with creating a bill of rights for tenants, to be included in all residential leases and rental agreements. It also limits the cost of security deposits to one month’s rent, and increases the cost to landlords of serving an eviction notice. The other two bills seek to make it easier for local jurisdictions to increase affordable housing, and to provide grants and loans to communities building or redeveloping housing in low-income areas. Another bill authorizes Eastern Shore counties to increase the rental rate tax on hotels, motels, and B&B operators from 5% to 6% of the room rate, beginning July 1, 2024. Given the importance of tourism in many Shore counties, this increase could be a welcome addition to the revenues of those counties. The state’s juvenile justice system was addressed in a bill increasing the number of offenses a child between the ages of 10 and 12 can be charged with, and the penalties to which the offender is liable. Offenses covered under the act include third-degree sex offenses, aggravated animal cruelty, stealing motor vehicles, and various firearms offenses [1] . The bill increases the length of probation to which juveniles can be sentenced to one year for misdemeanors and two years for felonies. The Freedom to Read Act prohibits state-funded libraries from banning books based on the origin, background, or views of the author or other creator, or because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval of the contents. Given that 2024 is a presidential election year, it should be no surprise that several bills focused on electoral matters. One prohibits threats of harm to an election official or their family members, punishable by up to three years in prison or a $2,500 fine. Two others address compensation for election judges, prohibiting their wages from being deducted from any unemployment benefits and requiring compensation and leave for county employees and public school students serving as judges. And still another new law requires social media platforms with more than one million monthly users to take “reasonable efforts to prevent, detect, and remove accounts and posts that communicate election disinformation in the State and report accounts or posts that communicate election disinformation [to] the State Board of Elections.” A comprehensive list of measures enacted by the 2024 General Assembly can be found at the WYPR website. Peter Heck is a Chestertown-based writer and editor, who spent 10 years at the Kent County News and three more with the Chestertown Spy. He is the author of 10 novels and co-author of four plays, a book reviewer for Asimov’s and Kirkus Reviews, and an incorrigible guitarist. [1] Block changed font/

Watch the Moms!

By Jeanette Sherbondy • 14 May, 2024
Moms are a particularly powerful way of organizing. This is not a history but a commentary on some of today’s Moms organizations that have played a role in America’s politics in different forms. Moms for Liberty caught our attention here on the Eastern Shore a couple of years ago in the elections for local boards of education. It was founded in Florida in 2021 by Tina Descovitch, Tiffany Justice, and Bridget Ziegler. Moms for Liberty claim to be “a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting for liberty and parental rights in education.” [M4L FB website, March 22.] “They promote liberty in our homes and community” according to their mission statement.  In a gesture of defiance and common sense, The Book Plate bookstore started advertising that they have been selling banned books for decades. Moms for Liberty, Worcester County, Md., also was active in the same year’s elections. Barbara Barbato, Chair, stated that “Moms for Liberty – Worcester County is dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Two grandmothers’ organization were organized to oppose them: Grandmothers for Truth and Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights or GRR!. Grandmothers for Truth is a group of grandparents and their allies organized by People For the American Way who are “fighting for the next generation’s freedom to learn, and who are resisting authoritarian attacks on the freedom to teach the full truth about our history and culture. In partnership with allies of all ages and communities, we will defeat this generation’s book-banners, censors, and authoritarians." They are “a voice, coming from grandparents’ unique place of wisdom and love, against censorship and for the freedom to learn.” “Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights was formed to resist Moms for Liberty by women who grew up in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s when women in this country had little or no access to birth control. Abortion was illegal, and women were dying after unsafe abortions. Their vision is ‘a world where all people have access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion. A world where all can exercise their human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children they do have in safe and sustainable communities”. A larger and older group is Moms Rising that is a merger of two separate organizations, MomsRising Together, a social welfare organization, and MomsRising Education fund in 2006. It was founded by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, an American author, speaker, and radio-host and by Joan Blades. This organization has broad interests and could be described as progressive or liberal while actually stating that they are conserving American values that are far from those of Moms for Liberty: “We take on the most critical issues facing women, mothers, and families by educating the public and mobilizing massive grassroots actions to: Bring the voices and real world experiences of women and mothers straight to our local, state, and nation's leaders; Amplify women's voices and policy issues in the national dialogue & in the media across all platforms (from print, to radio, to blogs, social media, and more); Accelerate grassroots impact on Capitol Hill and at state capitols across the country; Hold corporations accountable for fair treatment of women and mothers and for ensuring the safety of their products. Shauna Shames , Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, wrote in Conversation : “MomsRising combines the best of American innovation and ingenuity. We are a transformative on-the-ground and online multicultural organization of more than a million members and over a hundred aligned organizations working to increase family economic security, to end discrimination against women and mothers, and to build a nation where both businesses and families can thrive. “Although Moms Rising never interferes in elections, it works to support or oppose proposed legislation on the federal level and has a political effect throughout the year. It’s reassuring that several Moms and Grandmoms groups formed in opposition to Moms for Liberty and equally, that Moms Rising was formed to opposed the liberty-minded individuals. In this context, 'liberty' tends to describe a struggle for liberty for themselves but not for others and 'freedom' represents a struggle for the rights of all, and formally recognized by governments. Politically these groups are at loggerheads. Professor Shames continues: “Others see them as well-organized , publicity-savvy anti-government conspiracists . By 'parental rights' they mean limiting certain content in schools and having local councils and boards run only by ' liberty-minded individuals ' — which sounds like rhetoric from the American Revolution. There’s historical precedent in this. Change the clothes and hairdos and these ladies could look like the conservative white women who opposed busing in 1970s Boston , supported McCarthy anti-communism or blocked integration in Southern schools . Those women also formed mom-based groups to protest what they saw as government overreach into their families’ way of life. “But as a scholar of American politics with a focus on gender and race, I also see differences. Moms for Liberty skillfully leverages social media, drawing on a population activated by the 2009-2010 rise of the Tea Party followed by the Trumpian MAGA movement . Mask mandates were the trigger for the group’s formation, but opposition to gender fluidity and queerness has become its bread and butter — more 21st century than 20th. “How racial equality is talked about animates its work also, in a distinctly new way. The conservative position on race and government’s role in the past century has pivoted from enforcement of segregation and hierarchy to a kind of social “ laissez-faire ” — hands off — position to match the Reaganite view that government is bad. “The extreme, hyper-male form of this anti-government, pro-traditional gender-roles ideology took shape as the Proud Boys , a number of whose leaders are now under indictment and sentence for their part in the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks. Moms for Liberty, while not going this far, shares similar beliefs and apparently has ties to the Proud Boys organization and leaders . They don’t march with guns, but their actions undermine and impede local government. “Moms for Liberty soon found success with disruptive tactics a VICE News investigation called a ' pattern of harassment' of opponents that include online and in-person targeting of school board members, parents or even students who disagree with the group. “Members in many chapters generate ill will by turning up to school board and other meetings — sometimes to the homes of public officials or teachers — yelling insults like ' pedophile ' and ' groomer ' at opponents. “For a newcomer, Moms for Liberty has had real victories. It has disrupted countless meetings , forcing local governance bodies to focus on topics important to the group such as lifting mask mandates and, more recently, removing curricular content that they deem controversial, such as texts on gender identity and racial oppression. “The group’s success in getting talked about is perhaps its greatest strength so far, moving it from outside disruptor to political player, at least locally. It has successfully supported many local candidates and book bans .” She concludes: “The mom rhetoric may be real, but as a political scientist, I can say confidently that the framers of the Constitution would not endorse this brand of liberty. Book bans are weapons of autocrats, and democracy ends where political figures call each other 'pedophiles' in public.” Shames’s analysis of 21st century conservative women’s groups shows an American pattern of how conservative women may respond to rapid changes by pushing for smaller governmental control while the other Mom’s groups demonstrate a firmer foundation in democratic principles when they oppose them. Ironically these often-labeled liberal principles are also deeply conservative in the sense of keeping faith with the intentions of the founders of our nation, which of course, does not recommend destroying the government! Jeanette E. Sherbondy is a retired anthropology professor from Washington College and has lived here since 1986. In retirement she has been active with the Kent County Historical Society and Sumner Hall, one of the organizers of Legacy Day, and helped get highway /historical markers recognizing Henry Highland Garnet. She published an article on her ethnohistorical research of the free Black village, Morgnec.

Maryland's Teacher Shortage: Will the Blueprint's Plan for Better Pay, Training Do Enough?

By Thomas Timberman • 14 May, 2024
Fifth-grade teacher Melissa Carpenter works a 10-hour day on average during the week, and her job sometimes requires her to put in hours on weekends, too. “I feel like teaching is one of those jobs where we go to work to do more work — to do work after work,” said Carpenter, who teaches at William B. Wade Elementary School in Waldorf, in Charles County. Carpenter’s long hours are far from unique among Maryland’s educators, as the state and nation grapple with a teacher shortage. The U.S. Department of Education keeps a Teacher Shortage Areas database — and it found that for the current school year, Maryland was short of teachers in 28 subjects, which the state defines as “areas of certification.” That’s up from 17 five years earlier. Some teacher certification areas — such as English as a second language, health science and special education — are short on teachers from pre-K through the 12th grade. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future – a landmark state law reforming public education — aims to fix that problem by “elevating the stature of the teaching profession” through higher pay, better training and stronger recruitment efforts. However, experts and educators have mixed views about whether that will successfully address the root causes of the shortage. “Money is a huge help, but it's not everything,” said Simon Birenbaum, director of grading, assessment and scheduling at Baltimore City Public Schools. “Human capital is the biggest issue, and money can help with that problem, but recruiting, training and retaining high-quality teachers and staff has to be the primary focus. No amount of money can compensate for a lack of highly-skilled educators.” Documenting the shortage Maryland’s teacher woes follow national trends. The National Center for Education Statistics reported 86% of U.S. K-12 public schools faced challenges in hiring teachers for the current school year. Amid the shortage, the Blueprint calls for hiring an unspecified number of additional teachers to ease the workload of classroom veterans. “You hear a lot about the teacher shortage — and how are we going to implement all these Blueprint programs, which require additional staffing, when we have a teacher shortage?” asked Addie Kaufman, executive director of the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals. Shortages stem, in part, from the fact that teachers are leaving the profession. In Prince George’s County, 1,126 teachers resigned between July 2022 and July 2023 — up from 989 the previous year, The Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, 625 resigned in Montgomery County Public Schools, up from 576 a year earlier. Dorchester County experienced the highest attrition rate in Maryland during the 2021-22 school year at 18%, according to a Department of Education report. “I used to never have people just quit in the middle of the year,” said Dorchester County Superintendent Dave Bromwell, who recently retired. “The pandemic told some people, you know what? If you're not happy, move on.” All those factors end up impacting teachers like Carpenter. She said her grade level saw an influx of students, with around 30 students in her own fifth grade class this year. “Our class sizes are growing, and we don't have the support in place to help some of our struggling learners,” she said. ‘Teaching isn’t approved’  Schools are suffering from a long-term decline in the number of people interested in becoming teachers. That decline has been ongoing since the mid-‘70s, “but it gets worse and worse and worse, year over year,” said Mike Hansen, an education policy expert at the Brookings Institution. According to the State Department of Education, 9,134 people were enrolled in teacher preparation programs in the state in 2012. That number plummeted by about half by 2017, but rose to 6,037 by 2020. Why is teaching becoming less appealing as a career? Zid Mancenido, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been studying that issue. “One of the major findings of my research has been that people are taught over time that teaching isn’t a great career,” he said in a 2022 interview on the school’s website. “There are all these tiny interactions they have over their lifetime that give them this feeling that teaching isn’t approved, that they should be aspiring to other careers that might be more prestigious or well-paid.” Amid the shortage, many schools hire less-credentialed “conditional” teachers — those who have not yet received their professional certifications. Maryland’s issuance of conditional certificates more than doubled between 2018 to 2022, a state Department of Education report said.

Legal Gray Areas Hinder Police Watchdogs

By Paul Kiefer, Capital News Service • 14 May, 2024
Three years after state lawmakers celebrated the passage of the Maryland Police Accountability Act, the rollout of the new police oversight systems has proven slow, inconsistent and rife with disagreements about how to implement the new oversight process — challenges that frustrate critics and administrators alike. But the Maryland General Assembly has shown little appetite for revisiting the law, leaving many of the unresolved questions about the new police oversight systems in the hands of local governments. A Capital News Service investigation revealed that roughly a quarter of Maryland jurisdictions did not get their police oversight systems up and running before the July 2022 deadlines set by state lawmakers. The new oversight bodies in Baltimore City, along with Dorchester, Cecil and Kent Counties, did not meet until 2023. Even in jurisdictions that did meet the deadline, some administrators have struggled to navigate ambiguities in the law. In one county, three people who submitted misconduct complaints later had to defend themselves in court against counter-accusations that they had submitted false reports and wasted police resources. The 2021 Maryland Police Accountability Act outlined a three-tiered police oversight system that theoretically overhauled the state’s long-standing rules for police misconduct investigations and gave civilian bodies the authority to receive misconduct complaints, review police internal investigations and issue discipline. The reforms were the most prominent contribution by Maryland lawmakers to a wave of police oversight reforms nationwide in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer a year earlier. Maryland House Majority Leader David Moon, D-Montgomery County, was a member of the Maryland General Assembly’s police reform and accountability work group and a leading voice of support for the Police Accountability Act in 2021. He says state lawmakers generally expect local governments to be proactive in making the new police oversight systems work, though he doesn’t always endorse that approach. “If there are real issues, of course, the state can step in for clarification, but we are essentially still in the early stages of allowing the implementation to flow through local governments,” Moon said. Police Accountability Boards, or PABs, form the foundation of the new system. The boards are responsible for receiving civilian complaints and passing them to the appropriate law enforcement agency for an internal investigation. State lawmakers set an unenforced timeline for the creation of new county-level police oversight agencies: each jurisdiction, including Baltimore City, would establish a PAB by July 2022, and each PAB would release an annual report on its activities that year. But a half-dozen counties struggled to stand up their PABs and to refer complaints for investigation before that deadline, generally because of administrative barriers, a shortage of volunteers, or simply the scale of the task. Moon says that state lawmakers anticipated those setbacks, but opted to set a shorter timeline to establish the new oversight bodies rather than stalling the process on behalf of smaller jurisdictions. “We ultimately decided to force the implementation process along, even if there were delays and hiccups,” he said. In many counties, a lack of outreach and preparation meant that positions on the boards “often went to people who were already in the loop,” said Yanet Amanuel, the Director of Public Policy for the ACLU of Maryland. Those delays have come with consequences. Joshua Harris, the chair of Baltimore City’s PAB, says administrative red tape pushed back the board’s first meeting to February of last year, during which the city’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights accepted more than 300 complaints on the board’s behalf; the city did not form its ACC until July 2023. “[By the time of its first meeting], our ACC already had a backlog of cases,” Harris said. “If cases are not reviewed within a year and a day [after they are submitted], whatever the police department’s integrity bureau decides is basically final. That could mean there are problematic officers that remain on the streets.” Harris adds that the committee also continues to receive cases for review with little time to spare before the 366-day deadline, forcing them to rush their review or risk leaving the discipline to the discretion of the police department. Meanwhile, county attorneys and PAB administrators elsewhere in the state have raised concerns that the rules for reviewing police misconduct and issuing discipline are riddled with ambiguities. The Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office’s decision to bring criminal charges against three people whose police misconduct complaints were deemed to be unfounded offers a prime example. “The law does not currently provide protections for people who file complaints,” says Amanuel of the ACLU. Worcester County has charged three people — including the first person to submit a complaint through the county’s PAB in 2022 — with filing a false report after submitting complaints about Ocean City police officers. The Ocean City District Court has yet to side with the State’s Attorney’s Office on the matter; judges dismissed all three cases, arguing that while the complaints themselves were unfounded, they did not rise to the level of criminality. “I have never seen a case where police bring a criminal charge against a person that wanted to be heard on their view of police conduct,” said Judge Richard Collins, who presided over the first trial, during his closing remarks. “I believe that it would have the effect of telling people, ‘don’t complain against the police because they might decide to make a criminal investigation of your differing opinions as to the conduct of these officers.” Messiah Burrell, a Pennsylvania resident and the second person to face charges after filing a misconduct report in Worcester County, believes his experience calls into question the value of the new oversight system itself. “I might have known what I was getting into,” he said. “I never got to talk to anyone on that [Police Accountability] Board. I only spoke with Ocean City Police.” The Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office did not respond to inquiries about the cases. Worcester County Attorney Roscoe Leslie, however, identified other glaring ambiguities in the Maryland Police Accountability Act, including the definition of “police misconduct” itself. The law defines misconduct as “depriving persons of rights protected by the Constitution, violation of criminal statute and violation of law enforcement agency standards or policies.” “The way that it’s written leaves it open to the interpretation that you need all three – depriving persons of constitutional rights, violating criminal statutes and violating agency policy – to constitute misconduct,” Leslie argues. “I haven’t taken that interpretation, but it’s still possible.” The Prince George’s County PAB raised similar concerns, and the Maryland Attorney General’s office stepped in last April to clarify that counties should use the broader definition of police misconduct. Lawmakers in Annapolis considered one proposed change to the new police oversight system this year: a bill introduced by Baltimore delegate Malcolm Ruff (D-41) that would have granted the boards subpoena powers to conduct investigations concurrently with law enforcement agencies’ internal reviews. Jim Gormley, a former member of Howard County’s PAB and a founder of the Howard County Police Accountability Task Force, argues that granting subpoena power would encourage boards to take a more active role in police oversight. At the moment, he said, most boards serve as a “mail box,” in part because of uncertainty about the extent of their role in recommending reforms. “The state law says the PABs should work to ‘improve matters of policing,’” Gormley said. “What does working to improve policing actually mean? It doesn't mean nothing, but until we have a statutory mandate to take an active role, we're going to have a lack of clarity, lack of energy, and lack of drive towards accountability.” Law enforcement advocates, however, countered that the ACCs already have subpoena power — whether or not they use it — and that adding another investigative step would over-complicate an already convoluted process. “Across the state, we're talking about hundreds of cases,” Maryland Fraternal Order of Police President Clyde Boatwright told the Maryland House Judiciary Committee. “We still have found the one case that says the internal investigation should have been done differently. How many bites on the apple do we need to have?” Ruff’s bill ultimately failed to advance beyond the state’s Judiciary Committee, ending consideration of changes to Maryland’s police accountability system this year. Without an appetite in the General Assembly for revisiting the Maryland Police Accountability Act — or, in some counties, confidence to expand upon the state law independent of the General Assembly — Howard County’s Gormley says that those seeking to improve the new system are “a little bit stuck.” But Moon maintains that state lawmakers designed the Maryland Police Accountability Act to leave much of the decision-making to the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore City. During the drafting of the bill, “I think everybody accepted that a lot of the decisions would be made locally,” Moon said. “We were standing up a framework, and local governments would have to fill in the gaps.” Tommy Tucker contributed to this report. Capital News Service is a student-powered news organization run by the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. For 26 years, they have provided deeply reported, award-winning coverage of issues of import to Marylanders. 

Summer Events on the Eastern Shore, Part 1: Festivals

By George Shivers • 14 May, 2024
It is especially apparent in the summer time why the Eastern Shore is often called “the Land of Pleasant Living.” Summer brings festivals and other special events throughout the nine counties of the Shore. It’s a time when people of all ages can have fun together. In this article. I will focus on the period from Memorial Day weekend through June 30. The Chestertown Tea Party takes place from Friday, May 24 through Sunday, May 26. It celebrates the tradition of Chestertown’s expression of solidarity with fellow patriots in Boston. The festivities begin on Friday evening 5pm-9pm with an old-fashioned block party at Wilmer Park on the waterfront. On Saturday morning at 10 am, there is a colonial parade on High St. in downtown Chestertown and at 2 pm a reenactment of the original event. Throughout the day there are food and craft vendors, music and activities for children. On Sunday, May 26 the Festival continues with a Beer Fest, live music, food and craft vendors in Wilmer Park. At 2:30 visitors will enjoy the annual Raft Race, a race of rafts made of non-nautical materials. Come and have a laugh! A Memorial Day Parade takes place on Flower St. in Berlin, Worcester County on May 27 from 11 am until noon. Also on May 26 from 12-4 pm in nearby Rock Hall there is “Porch Fest”, designed to bring local musicians and neighborhoods together. The music is all free! Then on Monday, May 27 at 10 am you may end your Memorial Day celebration with Chestertown’s annual Memorial Day Parade on High St, downtown. The Heart of Crisfield Festival in Somerset County is scheduled for May 25 in the Crisfield Arts and Entertainment District. There will be music, art, food and drinks at multiple locations throughout the day. On May 26 from noon until 4 pm at the Crisfield City Dock, attend the 32nd Annual Softshell Festival and Waterman’s Hall of Fame. The event features soft-shell crabs and crab cakes, music by the Going Coastal Band as well as local artisans and vendors. Other Kent County events in early June are the Antique Airplane Fly-In at Massey Aerodrome on Saturday, June 1, 10 am – 2 pm , Maryland Line Rd., Massey. On the same day at the Rock Hall Marina at 8 am there is the Rock Hall Triathlon beginning at 8 am. On June 7 – 9 fishermen may want to enjoy the Guardian of the Pearl Rock Fish Tournament at the Rock Hall Bulkhead. June 1 marks the second annual Janes Island Paddlefest at the Janes Island State Park in Crisfield. The event begins at 7:30 am. Events include guided paddles, a poker run paddle, a campfire on the water, food, music, pontoon boat rides, a coastal clean-up, as well as children’s activities and nature crafts. Chestertown’s National Music Festival begins on June 2 and continues through June 15. The concerts take place at various venues and times. Tickets are required for many events, but visitors may attend rehearsals free of charge. For a schedule, go to https://nationalmusic.us/ Thursday evening June 6 and June 13 at 7 pm from the Queen Anne’s County Dept. of Parks and Recreation sponsors “Thursdays in the Park.” On June 6th, Kiti Gartner & the Drifting Valentines (Western Swing, Rockabilly) perform at the Matapeake Beach Clubhouse. On June 13th the band is Philip Dutton & the Alligators / (Louisiana music from Satchmo to Chenier) at the Cascia Winery. For more classical music consider Easton’s Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival which runs from June 7 through June 15 at the historic Ebenezer Theatre on South Washington St. For a schedule of concerts and other information go to chesapeakemusic.org June 15 is also the date of Salisbury’s Eastern Shore Juneteenth celebration of the African American experience. Events are in downtown Salisbury, but no schedule available at the time of publication. Celebrate Father’s Day by attending the 36th Antique & Classic Boat Festival and Coastal Arts Fair at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Talbot County on June 14-16. The theme this year is “It’s all about fishing.” The event is sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society. There will be a wide-range of vessels on display. For more information and purchase of tickets go to https://cbmm.org/event/antique-classic-boat-festival-the-arts-at-navy-point/2023-06-16/ . On Saturday, June 29 Salisbury celebrates Salisbury Pride Parade and Festival, a celebration of diversity and unity. The event includes music, vendor booths, exhibits and food. For more information, go to https://www.salisburyprideparade.com/ This is by no means an exhaustive list of June events, but it does represent an exhaustive online search carried out in early May and covers the major festivals. See Common Sense in June for a listing of events covering July 1 through September 21. A native of Wicomico County, George Shivers holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland and taught in the Foreign Language Dept. of Washington College for 38 years before retiring in 2007. He is also very interested in the history and culture of the Eastern Shore, African American history in particular.

John Barth – 1930-2024 – An Eastern Shore Man

By Jane Jewell • 14 May, 2024
A Biography and Appreciation
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